ABSTRACT
Demands in a political system are a means of linking the constituents with their government. They are also part of the interactive relationship between legislators and their constituents discussed in Chapter 1. In Sri Lanka the framework for making demands on legislators is highly institutionalized, and constituents find their legislators highly accessible. This chapter examines the nature of demands in Sri Lanka and the motivation that legislators have to respond to them. As mentioned earlier, constituents must have some means to punish or reward a legislator if their demands are to have any effect. Thus, it is hypothesised that the legislators believe that their electoral victory or defeat was largely a result of their action or inaction in response to the demands of their constituents. This however is not the case in Sri Lanka, as is shown in the second part of this chapter. The electoral success or defeat of Sri Lankan legislators is largely the result of factors that are beyond their control.
